Maljek

A Romulan obsessed with androids, hacking, and malware. His ship kidnapped Data to interrogate and study, but Maljek was distraught when he found his captain only wanted the android destroyed. Favoring his interests, he jeopardized the mission and attempted to escape with Data in a shuttlecraft. They were both transported aboard the Enterprise, just before the Warbird fired upon it. Left behind by the Romulan empire, Maljek eventually works in security (not engineering, much to his distress) on the Enterprise. He is slow to warm up to people- despite his strange friendship with Data, he is paranoid and mistrusting as any other Romulan. However, as he spends more time with the crew, he begins to find a home in the Federation.

Backstory

Maljek’s father and mother, Petik and Vathas, both had high ranking positions in the Romulan military. As he grew up, Maljek became talkative, picked up strange habits, and struggled in education. He did excel in everything engineering, but this did not translate to any high rank- something his parents would not tolerate. The last straw was when Maljek showed an interest in hacking, representing a threat to government security. His parents decided they would put him on a fast track to the front lines (to admit they had an inferior child would, of course, only look worse), and had another child as soon as possible.

Voni, his sister, was raised with intense care, and it worked. She excelled in school and military training, and was quickly made the pride of the family. Secretly, she was the same as Maljek, but with so much emphasis on ensuring her success she had become skilled as masking. As they grew up, their sibling relationship became strained as Voni gained status as a commander, while Maljek was shafted into the lower decks of another ship. For a while Maljek was resigned to quietly working in engineering. It was a public secret that his parents had pulled some strings to put him on the ship, but if he kept a low profile and tried to stay out of the way he could get by.

One day his commander called him- the ship had captured Data of the USS Enterprise, and the commander was giving him one last chance to prove himself. Maljek was beyond excited; his interest in androids would finally mean something, and he would have a place in society. The interrogation was going well (even if Maljek got sidetracked asking more specific questions on the way androids worked), up until his commander told him to dismantle Data. Maljek tried to argue with his commander- the android was of massive technological importance- but she made it clear if he couldn’t do this one thing right she would execute him for treason.

Maljek could not bring himself to do it. Instead he brought the android through the maintenance tunnels and to the shuttlebay. But before they could say goodbye his captain caught up to him, phaser aimed for his head. With nowhere else to run, Maljek was pulled into the shuttlecraft by Data. The next few moments felt like a whirlwind- they were leaving the ship, the Warbird was aiming fire at them, the transporter was locking on… Having braced for the worst, Maljek eventually opened his eyes, only to see a human crew staring back at him.

The Warbird retreated, backing down after nearly firing on a Federation officer. Now the Enterprise had its latest conundrum: Maljek, who had nowhere to go and nowhere to return to. The Romulan would have to stay on the ship a while longer as he decided where to go- or, perhaps, he could stick around and get to know that android more…

Trivia

• In his late 50s when he first boards the Enterprise
• Seems to prefer dry ration packs for meals, though he also enjoys certain supplements made by Data.
• Voiceclaim